‘Daily governance, House panels set to be affected’

Senior government officials said a third dimension to the proposed amendments suggests that Delhi assembly committees will not be allowed to enquire into day-to-day administrative decisions of the government.

The proposed amendments to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act, 1991, if turned into a law, will have implications on day-to-day governance, and will also affect the functioning of the Delhi assembly committees, officials, bureaucrats and experts said on Monday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal and Delhi Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel at Delhi Vidhan Sabha seen entering the legislative assembly in this file picture from March 7. (Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times)

In a media briefing shortly after the bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia addressed two amendments proposed by the Centre -- one, the definition of “government” to imply the Lieutenant Governor; two, the power of the L-G to look into matters other than the three subjects under his jurisdiction (public order, land, and police).

Senior government officials said a third dimension to the proposed amendments suggests that Delhi assembly committees will not be allowed to enquire into day-to-day administrative decisions of the government.

“This effectively implies that most of the House panels will become void, and the assembly rules from which these committees have been formed will also be void. The public accounts committee, which looks into the accounts of the government and the budgetary allocations, might go in such a case,” said a senior Delhi government official on condition of anonymity.

The official added that the proposed amendment will also give officials some protection if they are summoned by any House panel as the definition of “day-to-day administration” is not clearly defined.

“That way, several matters taken up by an assembly committee can be categorised as a subject of day-to-day administration. For example, if a committee is enquiring into the number of EWS category people who availed various government benefits and summons an official, the person can refuse citing the issue falls under day-to-day administration,” said the official.

A second official added that if the Bill becomes law, the L-G will have to issue a “general” or “special order” clarifying the matter or subjects he would like to keep under his jurisdiction.

“There will be increased friction between the legislature, the executive, and the Union government. This is because the amendment states that not just decisions of the council of ministers, but the opinion of the L-G will have to be sought on the decision taken by every minister. Delhi has seven ministers, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and each of them issues dozens of orders/directives on a daily basis. The back-and-forth of files would only delay a lot of projects,” said the second official.

PDT Achary, former secretary general of Lok Sabha, was of the view that the amendments were intended to strengthen the hands of the L-G and hobble the elected government. “This totally nullifies the 2018 Supreme Court judgment, which clarified that the L-G is bound by the aide and advice of the elected government, except for matters related to the police, public order and land in Delhi, which primarily comes under the L-G’s domain. There was no need for the concurrence of L-G on day-to-day administrative decisions except those three subjects,” he said.

“But this peculiar amendment states the elected government will have to obtain an opinion from the L-G on all decisions. The L-G is under no compulsion to give his opinion on all decisions, which effectively means most of the decisions will be stalled or will be hanging in the middle,” Achary said.

A third senior government official said instances of power tussle between the L-G and Delhi government reduced after the SC’s intervention in 2018. “If this Bill is passed, bureaucrats may be caught between the L-G’s office and the political executive,” said the official.

Raghav Chadha, AAP MLA from Rajendra Nagar and chairperson of the Delhi Assembly committee for peace and harmony, said to directly curtail the powers of the Assembly committees is to indirectly limit the power of the legislative assembly which represents nothing but the will of the people of Delhi.

“This Bill is an affront not only to the will of the people, but to the spirit of federalism. The legislative assembly committees have been an important tool deployed to oversee the functioning of the government and is an integral part of the administrative checks and balances that exist in a democracy,” he said.

Lawyer Gautam Bhatia suggested several of the provisions of the bill are specifically designed to nix the ongoing enquiry by the Delhi assembly into the 2020 riots, and suggested that they could be challenged.

“Look at the proposed amendment to Section 33, which specifically bars the Delhi assembly from constituting committees to enquire into ‘the day-to-day affairs of the administration’, AND makes it applicable with retrospective effect,” he tweeted.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, “Even after today’s amendment Bill 75% of administrative works and powers will rest with Delhi’s government and it will better that instead of starting any new power struggle Arvind Kejriwal government concentrates of giving good governance and developing Delhi.”